As big data is changing every domain of research, cloud computing is becoming increasingly cost effective, accessible, and user friendly. Cloud computing enables professional and citizen scientists around the world to collaborate on today’s toughest problems, by processing the best available data with high-end systems that, formerly, only the highest-funded laboratories could access. By embracing the advantages of working in “the cloud,” academics and scientists are now able to realize the vision outlined in The Fourth Paradigm: Data Intensive Scientific Discovery.

The objective of the eScience in the Cloud workshop was to broaden the potential impacts of cloud computing on science by sharing learned experiences about the benefits of using cloud technology in scientific ventures. The workshop brought together academic and Microsoft researchers as well as people building the Microsoft Azure cloud and data analytics tools—allowing an unprecedented exchange of ideas that was beneficial to all.

This workshop was a follow-up to our Cloud Futures and eScience workshops and addressed key themes that encompass many research domains that use cloud technology. The sessions included panels and presentations on:

Impacts of the cloud on research communities

Streaming environmental data and urban science

Perspectives on data science

The leading edge of cloud design

Deriving information from data

Data analytics and simulation

Demo sessions displayed several new technologies and tools to facilitate the research process. We also coordinated a one-day training event on April 28 to instruct researchers how to take advantage of our Microsoft Azure for Research program.